Mac’s last laugh! After 50 years, Britain’s best cartoonist draws his brilliant career to a close
Richard Kay pays tribute to the career of Britain’s best loved cartoonist
Now his days at the Mail are over – but Mac’s marvellous cartoons will live long in the memory (Mac is pictured at his desk doing what he loves most)
For 50 years, he has been at the heart of Britain’s morning conversation, as much a part of breakfast time as cornflakes and toast and marmalade.
We are talking, of course, of Mac, the Daily Mail’s celebrated cartoonist whose laugh-out-loud drawings – sardonic but never cruel – have ensured readers up and down the country start their day with a chuckle.
But today marks the end of an era, the very last Mac to appear in the Mail. That, on the day he retires at 82, he features himself in this final caricature, on his way to a nursing home for cartoonists, seems somehow appropriately wry.
Over the years he has mocked, ribbed, roasted and, at times, ridiculed our political masters and spiked pomposity – but always with warmth and humanity.
As Daily Mail editor Geordie Greig declared last night, Mac has ‘touched the funny bone of middle Britain with a humour that is as original as it is memorable’. He added:
‘There are few genuine legends in Fleet Street, Mac is one.’ Mac – otherwise Stan McMurtry – began his Fleet Street career on the old Daily Sketch but in 1971 he joined the Mail and has been entertaining our readers ever since.
Over those five decades, he has produced some 15,000 cartoons – for many years there were six a week. It is a remarkable body of work.
But that is only part of the story. For all those finished cartoons, he drew 100,000 rough draughts, offering his editors at least three different cartoons for them to make the final choice.
And talking of editors, during all that time he has worked for only five. Prime ministers, on the other hand, came and went.
Harold Wilson, for whom Mac was a favourite even though the Labour PM was frequently a target of his barbs, was the resident of No 10 when Mac’s brush and ink sketches first appeared in the Mail.
Another eight have taken office since then and all have come under the scrutiny of the sharpest, most exquisite cartoonist in town.
His drawings have maintained an unvaryingly high standard of draughtsmanship and wit. And with his remarkable eye for detail, they poke fun but are never vicious, nor crude.
-
Fifty GLORIOUS years of Mac: As he finally hangs up his pen,…
Mac on… The Special One
Share this article
Nor has he ducked controversy. When the Charlie Hebdo shootings happened in Paris, Mac not only drew a brilliant sketch but also wrote powerfully of why terrorists fear cartoonists.
‘We have the power to make people laugh at them,’ he said. ‘Of course they hate us.’ He adopted a similar stance with the IRA.
His drawings encompassed so much of everyday life. The police, doctors, the Royal Family, clergymen, sports stars and politicians all featured.
‘As far as politics go,’ he once said, ‘I suspect most people in my profession would prefer it if there was a law which would make all people with bland or uninteresting faces ineligible for office.’
His cartoons have been much sought after; many are to be found at Buckingham Palace and other royal homes. Of course, not everyone is happy.
In 1984, Mac drew three immensely fat, untidy Army chefs slopping food out of great, steaming pots.
The caption – ‘I take it Egon Ronay has gone then?’ – referred to a story about the famous culinary expert advising the Army.
‘The cooks were as I remembered them from my National Service days: Scruffy, spotty and very fat,’ Mac said.
But the cartoon enraged the brass at the Royal Army Catering Corps. Didn’t he know that members of the RACC were obliged to be and remain fit? Did Mac think he was as fit? Perhaps he’d like to find out by joining their exercises and completing their assault course?
Good sport that he is, Mac agreed. Result: Two weeks in hospital, three months off work. But his worst punishment was not appearing in the Mail for three months.
Now his days at the Mail are over – but Mac’s marvellous cartoons will live long in the memory.
Mac may have gone – but the Daily Mail will unveil a brilliant new cartoonist in the new year.
…and here’s a few from last night’s celebration feature piece
Source: Read Full Article